Friday, December 31, 2010

The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is to call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another.Just to be clear, inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I have included sites that are rather disturbing to me.The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable.Please, go see for yourself.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Not every song that will be featured here will be what is generally considered as being “Christian” in the eyes of this world. For some will be anguished cries from the pit of despair, and others will be quite obviously ferverent rants of rebellion. Nonetheless, be assured that they will all be of our Heavenly Father (in one way or another) and I hope that you have been given ears to hear the message.

Monday, December 27, 2010

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about, websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”This is subject to change, however.In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

Just in case you missed it, I published [Eyeballin’ Entrecard] six weeks ago on account of how dissatisfied I had become with the service. Be assured that I really did hope that it would serve as another wake-up call, and that [Entrecard] would finally start to at least try to actually address some of the concerns that have been raised by many of their members.

No, I am very much not alone in my dissatisfaction. For hundreds have also voiced their concerns, and a click on the image above while reveal further proof of that.

Now, this is not to say that all of the criticism has been warranted. In fact, I was a loyal supporter of Entrecard when so many were screaming about them introducing paid advertisements to the mix. For I could see where that could potentially be a good money-maker for us all, but my hopes for that have been left unfulfilled.

No, it is not for that reason, but enough is enough. Therefore, I will be deleting my account and removing my Entrecard widget on January 1, 2011.

Be assured that the irony is not lost on me. For it was always upsetting to me to no longer find an Entrecard widget on one of the sites that I used to drop on every day, and now I have heard from several who have wanted me to stay with the service because this is where they frequently drop.

Alas, the battle has been raging in my head for weeks now, and it finally came down to a matter of who is serving who. For Entrecard benefits from my membership—even if only as another site to place a paid ad on while they have made it blatantly obvious that they have no desire to be of service to me by not even taking the time to acknowledge that they received my emails—let alone acting like they actually cared about what they [have said] that they cared about.

Just in case you are curious, links to most of the sites that I found to be in non-compliance of the official Entrecard [Blog Quality Standards] can be accessed [here]. Please keep in mind that it may be different with some now, but I am quite confident that the vast majority of them are still in non-compliance. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if many more sites could be added to the list now.

By the way, you may not be able to pull-up that Google Doc with the non-compliant sites if you are using Internet Explorer 8. It seems to do just fine with Firefox, but not so much with IE8.

Yes, it probably seems so petty, but it should make one wonder what a business that has made it so obvious that they are only concerned with what they consider to be in their best interest may be capable of. After all, I hear that there is money to be made from selling email addresses to spammers—amongst other things.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Back during my childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and me after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived.Even though we were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again.The link below the image is to the site itself, and the image is linked to the post it was first included in here.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

The following is another chapter from [Bittersweet Refinements]. Since each part is connected to the rest, it would do you well to keep reading (and listening for our Heavenly Father's explanations, of course).

The Wrath of God

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. [Romans 1:18-20 NIV]

Alas, is it not any wonder that our Heavenly Father would get so angry at those who do not want to even acknowledge His existence—let alone accept Him as truly being their own Heavenly Father. For instead of just saying that He loves them enough to die for them, our Heavenly Father went ahead and actually did it by sending a full and equal part of Himself to suffer and die upon that cruel, cruel Roman cross at Calvary in order to pay the price in full that was required to redeem all of us from having to face the penalty of our own sins[1].

No, that is not something that is taken into account, and this is something that needs to change. For it would portray our Heavenly Father in a much better light if it was much more widely taught that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that the wrath that will poured-out upon the ungodly, come Judgment Day[2], has so much more to do with the anguish of a broken heart (His heart, to be exact[3]) than it does with righteous indignation[4].

Yes, from our own very limited ground-based points-of-view[5], that sounds rather petty. For who from amongst has the right to say of another, “If I cannot have them, then no one else will”?

On the other hand, are we not all the work of His hands[6], and should He not have the right to do with what He has created for His own good pleasure[7]as He sees fit? After all, is it not a principle of common law that one has the right to do with their own property as they will as long as it does no harm to another’s property until it is deemed no longer lawful by a higher authority, and who has more authority than our Heavenly Father? For it is written: “If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’’’ [Job 9:12 NIV]

In other words, we were all created by Him for Him[8]. Therefore, our Heavenly Father has the right to do with us as He wills[9].

Nonetheless, let us not dwell upon the threat of destruction[10]. For we were all created to spend all of eternity with our Heavenly Father in His Kingdom of Heaven as heirs to all that is His in glory, and all who will but want to truly be who we were all created to be has His promise to look forward to[11]!

Friday, December 24, 2010

The SOLE purpose of this weekly series is to call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another.Just to be clear, inclusion in this series is not necessarily meant as a recommendation, and I have included sites that are rather disturbing to me.The link below each image is to the site itself, and each image is linked to the particular post from which it was taken when applicable.Please, go see for yourself.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It has been brought to my attention that some of my readers have been having some trouble with preparing a turkey for holiday gatherings. Therefore, it seemed obvious (oh yes I did!) that a special edition [TWO FOR TUESDAY] was warranted—featuring a couple of segments of [Mr. Obvious] from [The Bob & Tom Show].

Okay, only the first video is about how to cook a turkey, but the second one is about Christmas. Furthermore, it might hit really close to home for a few certain someones out there. (Yeah, you know who you are, and so do I!)

Monday, December 20, 2010

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about, websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”This is subject to change, however.In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

As I hope I have made it abundantly clear on a number of occasions, I watch movies and television shows in the hope of escaping the harsh realities of this world for at least a little while, but [The Blind Side] is a distinct exception to that rule. For it is based (not very loosely at all) upon the true story of a genteel white family taking a homeless black kid into more than their home, and I have wanted to see this movie since the first time I heard about it.

No, it did not hurt anything that football (the real kind—not soccer) is involved, but this is really not a sports story. For it is about goodness—plain and simple.

Oh, but there is nothing really simple about it. For we are talking about Memphis, TN here, and even though racial harmony appears to have been finally achieved, there is still much work to be done.

On a side-note, there is absolutely nothing plain about [Sandra Bullock] in this movie. For I couldn’t believe how incredible she looked as a blonde, and all of my thoughts about [Jesse James] being an absolute idiot were underscored to the nth degree. Suffice to say, she looked smoking hot in even the conservative attire that she wore throughout the movie, and her iron-fist-inside-of-a-velvet-glove demeanor added all the more to this.

Sandra’s role was to play [Leigh Anne Tuohy], and from all accounts, it was very accurate. In other words, there was little improvisation going on in order to spice up the story.

Much of that was due to there not being any need for any spicing up. For if a dry reading of just a factual account of the circumstances involved doesn’t have tears streaming down your face, you don’t have a heart.

Yes, most of my tears were those of joy. For this story most certainly does have a happy ending.

Speaking of such, there is another reason for talking about this movie other than as a suggestion for a great Christmas gift. For there are millions upon millions out there who aren’t going to have much (if any at all) of a Christmas this year, and I hope you will want to do something about that. It doesn’t have to be much, and it will count in more ways than you can naturally comprehend—be assured. Of course, if you feel compelled to do much, please do not let the opportunity pass without at least attempting to help change a life.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Back during my childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and me after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived.Even though we were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again.The link below the image is to the site itself, and the image is linked to the post it was first included in here.

Header Ospreys

TMI?

The purpose of this site has changed somewhat. For it was originally meant to help clear-up much of the confusion that now exists concerning our Heavenly Father and the righteousness of all of His most awesome ways, especially in regards to the very close and personal relationship that we can have with Him in this day and age. It still is, but in a much more subtle way. Now, if any of this has you curious, please visit FishHawk Droppings, which is where all of the books that I have been given to publish by our Heavenly Father (so far) have been placed in the order that they are meant to be read. By the way, the definition of a crackerhead is someone, who crumbles under pressure, regardless of whether real or imagined.